Meaning & Origins

(French) name of uncertain but probably Germanic origin. Éloise or Héloise was the name of the learned and beautiful wife (d. c.1164) of the French philosopher and theologian Peter Abelard (1079–1142), whom she married secretly. A misunderstanding with her uncle and guardian, the powerful and violent Canon Fulbert of Notre Dame, led to Abelard being set upon, beaten up, and castrated. He became a monk and Héloise spent the rest of her days as abbess of a nunnery, but they continued to write to each other. The name was brought to England by the Normans and remained in periodic use thereafter until it suddenly came into favour at the end of the 20th century; it is usually written without the accent.